Supreme Court To Pronounce Judgment On Plea Challenging Remission Of Bilkis Bano Case Convicts On Jan 8

The Supreme Court will pronounce on Monday (January 8) its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the premature release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.

A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan reserved judgment on the petitions on October 12 last year. The petitions challenge the decision of the Gujarat government to grant remission to 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders and gang rapes, including that of Bilkis Bano, during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. In 2022, on Independence Day, the life convicts were allowed to walk free, sparking widespread controversy.

Initially, a bunch of Public Interest Litigations were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the remission. Later, Bilkis Bano herself filed a writ petition.Among the PIL petitioners are Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Subhashini Ali, professor Rooplekha Verma, journalist Revati Laul, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, former IPS officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar, and National Federation of Indian Women.

The petitioners pointed out that the remission was granted despite the objections raised by the Presiding Judge and the Investigating Officer to the pre-mature release of convicts who have committed grave and heinous offences. Bilkis argued that the release of the prisoners, who committed horrific crimes against herself and her family members, have caused fear and emotional trauma to her.

"Eight minors killed, including Bilkis' three-and-a-half-year-old child, whose head was smashed into a rock. A pregnant woman was gang-raped. A woman who had recently delivered a child was raped and murdered. 14 counts of murder in total. It's heartwrenching to read about the condition in which the bodies were discovered, which the high court has detailed. These crimes were brutal, barbaric, and gruesome. Convicts have a right to be considered for remission on completion of a certain period of sentence. My issue here is the factors that the government has neglected to consider. This is not a case in which remission should be granted. What would be the impact on society if people like these come out or what precedence value would it set? Considerations at the time of conviction cannot be completely ignored," submitted Advocate Shobha Gupta, lawyer of Bilkis Bano.

The Gujarat Government told th Supreme Court that it decided to release the 11 convicts as they completed 14 years sentence and as their behaviour was found to be good. The Court was also told that the decision was taken with the requisite approval of the Central Government (as the case was investigated by the CBI).

Senior Advocates Indira Jaising, and advocates Vrinda Grover, Aparna Bhat, Nizamuddin Pasha, and Pratik R Bombarde represented various public interest litigants. Additional Solicitor-General SV Raju appeared for both the State of Gujarat and the Union of India. The now-released convicts were represented by Senior advocates Sidharth Luthra, Rishi Malhotra, S Guru Krishnakumar, Advocate Sonia Mathur, and others.